Ripon MP says boundaries shake-up to pose challenge

The Member for the Victorian electorate of Ripon, Joe Helper, says it will be harder for Labor to retain the seat, after changes to the electoral boundaries.

Yesterday, the shape and size of many Victorian electorates changed after an Electoral Boundaries Commission review.

The seat of Ripon will now extend to Creswick in the south and Donald and Wedderburn in the north.

Mr Helper has already announced he is not contesting the next election and says the vast size of the electorate will be a challenge for whoever replaces him.

"It does pose a difficulty in representing the seat because of its geographic spread," he said.

"Its a fair distance and it's hard to determine what the community interest is but at the end of the day it's an electorate that will no doubt keep the electorate on their toes."

Mr Helper says now the boundaries are set, the preselection process will begin.

"Now my party will go through a process and so will our opponents to find somebody who we think can represent the community, the many communities of Ripon into the future," he said.

Ballarat East

Meanwhile, the Victorian Member for Ballarat East, Geoff Howard, says he will make a decision soon about whether or not to step down at the next election.

Under the boundary changes, the Ballarat East seat will be changed to Buninyong.

The seat will stretch from Meredith in the south, to Ballan in the east, but loses its Macedon Ranges areas.

Mr Howard says he wanted to see the boundary changes before making a decision about his future plans.

"The components of the electorate that were in Hepburn Shire are taken from the bulk of the seat which becomes Buninyong seat and likewise Macedon Ranges goes out of the seat back to Macedon, so for me, that's a bit of a sadness," he said.

"I've certainly enjoyed representing the seat as it was.

"I've enjoyed my time in Parliament and obviously I have to make that decision about whether or not I will renominate but I haven't made a decision.

"I wanted to see the boundaries first. I wanted to then talk to anyone else who's interested in the seat and friends and a range of other people. I want to see what's in the best interests of Ballarat East."